Electro-Convulsive Therapy (Restrictions on Use) Bill
This is the text of the Electro-Convulsive Therapy (Restrictions on Use) Bill, as presented to the House of Commons on 3 December 1997
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Electro-Convulsive Therapy (Restrictions on Use) Bill
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A
B I L L
TO
Amend the Mental Health Act 1983 to prescribe the circumstances in which electro-convulsive therapy may be used without the patient's consent; to establish who may administer it; to lay down requirements governing the apparatus with which it is administered; and for related purposes.
BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-
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| Requirement of consent and a second opinion. |
1. After subsection (1)(a) of section 57 (treatment requiring consent and a second opinion) of the Mental Health Act 1983 ("the 1983 Act"), before "and" there is inserted-
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"(aa) electro-convulsive therapy;". |
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| Application of Part IV of the 1983 Act. |
2. - (1) In subsection (1) of section 56 (patients to whom Part IV applies) of the 1983 Act, at the beginning, there is inserted "Subject to subsection (1A) below, ".
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(2) After subsection (1) of section 56 of the 1983 Act there is inserted the following new subsection-
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"(1A) Section 57 of this Act, insofar as it relates to electro-convulsive therapy, applies to any patient liable to be detained under this Act.".
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| Duties of the Mental Health Act Commission. |
3. After subsection (3) of section 121 (Mental Health Act Commission) of the 1983 Act, there is inserted the following new subsections-
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"(3A) The Commission shall conduct an annual review of all medical facilities providing electro-convulsive therapy treatment.
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(3B) In carrying out an annual review under subsection (3A) above the Commission shall consider the compliance of the facilities administering electro-convulsive therapy with the requirements of section 142A below.
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(3C) The Commission shall issue in respect of each hospital or home administering electro-convulsive therapy a permit to administer that treatment only when it is satisfied that the facility is operated entirely in accordance with the requirements of section 142A below.
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(3D) Following the completion of a review under subsection (3A) above the Commission shall make a full report of its findings to the Secretary of State who may cause it to be published in whole or in part.
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(3E) The Commission shall at the end of each financial year collect from each hospital or home at which electro-convulsive therapy is administered, in respect of each patient to whom electro-convulsive therapy was administered-
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(a) a record of the patient's- |
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(b) such other details regarding the patient as it may require; |
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(c) details of the treatment administered; and |
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(d) assessments, prepared in accordance with subsection (3F) below, by both the patient and the responsible medical officer of the outcome of the treatment after- |
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(iii) if still under the medical supervision of the same hospital or home, twelve months.
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(3F) Assessments under subsection (3E)(d) above shall be prepared in accordance with guidance issued by the Commission, which shall include a table of classifications of outcome of treatment suitable for the later abstraction of information for the purposes of subsection (3G)(d) below.
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(3G) The Commission shall abstract and make publicly available anonymous information from the records collected under subsection (3E) above broken down according to-
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(d) classifications of patients' and responsible medical officers' assessments of the outcomes of treatment.". |
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| Duty to provide information. |
4. After section 133 (duty of managers of hospitals to inform nearest relatives of discharge) of the 1983 Act, there is inserted the following new section-
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| "Duty to provide information to Mental Health Act Commission. |
133A. Any hospital or home at which electro-convulsive therapy is administered and any responsible medical officer who administers or who is responsible for the administering of electro-convulsive therapy shall at the end of a financial year and within six weeks of receipt of a request from the Mental Health Act Commission under section 121(3D) below provide the Commission with such records, assessments and other information as it may require.".
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| Requirements of facilities administering electro-convulsive therapy. |
5. After section 142 (pay, pensions, etc of mentally disordered persons) of the 1983 Act, there is inserted the following new section-
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| "Requirements of facilities administering electro-convulsive therapy. |
142A. Any hospital or home or other facility at which electro-convulsive therapy is administered shall ensure that-
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(a) any person who administers electro-convulsive therapy holds proof of training received in a hospital practising electro-convulsive therapy and the recommendation of a senior consultant psychiatrist who has overseen that person's application of electro-convulsive therapy to patients as a trainee; and |
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(b) the apparatus with which electro-convulsive therapy is administered is capable of establishing a patient's seizure threshold and providing that patient's treatment dosage over the required duration.". |
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| Offences. |
6. After subsection (2A) of section 127 (ill-treatment of patients) of the 1983 Act, there is inserted the following new subsection-
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"(2B) It shall be an offence for any person to administer electro-convulsive therapy-
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(a) otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of sections 57 or 62 above; |
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(b) if that person is not qualified to administer electro-convulsive therapy; or |
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(c) if the hospital or home in which the treatment is administered does not have a valid permit issued under section 121(3C) above to administer electro-convulsive therapy.". |
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| Short title and commencement. |
7. - (1) This Act may be cited as the Electro-Convulsive Therapy (Restrictions on Use) Act 1998.
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(2) This Act shall come into force on the expiry of a period of three months from the date on which it is passed.
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